by Michael J. Foy

War, nuclear destruction, crazy ass children, the end is here! Snake seems to have gained an upper hand, but can he take on two armies at once and still manage to escape? Let’s dig into issue number four and find out!

As always, some spoilers may follow.

The twins are ready to take on the United States Police force. With an army behind them, and nuclear weapons up their sleeves, they finally make their push to take over America, but the illusion of their “powers” has finally slipped away. As a massive battle erupts for control of Florida, the twins plans backfire and Plissken uses his skills against them.

The biggest highlight of this issue has got to be the destruction of Florida. The landscape is left permanently changed by the detonation of dozens of nuclear warheads. The universe of Escape is ultimately a broken one. Thanks to World War III actually happening, America is a country alien to the one we actually live in. Manhattan is gone, now Florida, so I’m left to wonder once again what the remainder of the country looks like. Unfortunately, that will just have to wait, as the end of this issue shifts the story to a whole new place.

As Snake manages to change the tide of war, I find some of his actions/comments still overly cold. We are never given a clear picture from the original film as to what Snake is really seeking. Is it peace? To remain an outlaw? Perhaps to simply be alone? Snake does after all have friends, see the original deleted opening of the first film for more on that, and he does care about Cabbie, Maggie and to a lesser extent Brain. I suppose what I’m wondering is, why he is pushing the world away. This comic has given us the perfect realm to expand on Snake as a character, but seems to shy away from this in order to keep the action up.

The artwork remains solid and colorful, the battles clear and gory at times. The characters are interesting, but without enough time to really let them breath. Each time we are introduced to someone, there either dead or simply vanish after a few pages, an issue at most. Why not let the story unfold a bit more first? Why not left Snake have a chance at developing a connection with others? (Curtis is about the only real exception to this, but still shrugged off.) The story remains interesting, but the questions are mounting.

Score: 3 Nuclear Weapons Out of 5